States grapple with next steps on evictions as crisis grows in scope
Ryan Bowser looked somber as he sat in his cramped Oregon apartment, worried whether he, his pregnant girlfriend and her 10-yearold daughter would have a roof over their heads in the new year. It may well depend on state lawmakers.
The family is three months behind on the $1,165 in rent they pay for their two-bedroom unit in the college town of Corvallis. Bowser, a custodian at Oregon State University, took eight weeks off because he was sick and couldn’t afford child care.
Hoping for legislation
They’re among thousands hoping Oregon extends an eviction moratorium until July 1 in a special legislative session next week. The proposal also would create a $200 million fund mainly to compensate landlords. If passed, it would go further than a one-month extension of a federal eviction moratorium expected in a coronavirus relief package nearing consensus in Congress.
“We are forced to make decisions between which bills to pay — rent, car or groceries,” said Bowser, adding that they may have to sleep in their car, stay on friends’ couches or move to another state to crash with distant relatives. “We don’t know if we will have a home next year.”
The plight of Bowser and other renters on the edge foreshadows a national crisis that’s expected to grow next year, with states and cities that granted renters a reprieve amid the coronavirus-battered economy now wrestling with what comes next. While states like Oregon and California are trying to pass much longer moratoriums, some don’t have more protections in the works.
“This has the potential of being the biggest housing crisis of our lifetime,” said David Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference, a nonprofit dedicated to affordable housing for all Americans.
About one-third of U. S. households say they’re behind on rent or mortgage payments and likely to face eviction or foreclosure in the next two months, according to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Eyes on Congress
Eyes are on congressional leaders who are closing in on a massive COVID-19 relief package, including an extension of the federal eviction moratorium until February and $25 billion in rental assistance as well as a new round of stimulus checks, bonus unemployment benefits and many other efforts to deliver aid.
Eviction moratoriums instituted by 44 states beginning in March have mostly expired. In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the federal moratorium in September that broadly prevents evictions through the end of 2020. The nationwide directive was seen as the best hope to prevent more than 23 million renters from being displaced.
Now, some states want to extend eviction bans further than the federal government. Lawmakers in heavily Democratic California are proposing their moratorium last until 2022, as long as renters pay at least 25% of their rent and attest to financial hardship.